Chapter 309 - 239: Three-Step Plan

Chapter 309: Chapter 239: Three-Step Plan

Back in his hotel room, Chen Lin threw himself onto the soft, large bed and let out a long sigh.

The day had been a whirlwind. Even though all he did was sit, occasionally clapping, shaking hands, and smiling, he felt utterly exhausted.

The phone in his pocket was still vibrating like crazy. The frequency was so intense that Chen Lin wondered if it was about to self-destruct.

He pulled out his phone. Over 99 unread WeChat messages.

All sorts of people were coming out of the woodwork: elementary school classmates he hadn’t spoken to in ages, so-called "alumni" with whom he had only ever exchanged a single sentence in a group chat. The messages were all the same—platitudes like "Congratulations" and "Don’t forget us now that you’re rich and famous."

Chen Lin felt a headache coming on. His fingers flew across the screen, skipping past all the pointless social niceties to zero in on the pinned group chat—the Yanhai Startup Squad.

The group, which originally had only five members, now had seven.

Chen Lin had previously added the two tech gurus, Bai Qian and Pan Si, to the group.

The group chat was already in an uproar.

Sun Yu, the group’s resident hype man, was leading the charge as usual, spamming the chat with a series of bowing emojis:

Sun Yu: President Chen, you’re a legend!! (Voice cracking) My hands were shaking while I was watching the livestream!

Sun Yu: Boss, were you nervous shaking hands with the officials?

Yunqing followed close behind, posting a TV screenshot of Chen Lin accepting the award on stage. It had clearly been carefully touched up, with the filter applied just right:

@Chen Lin You looked devastatingly handsome, Boss! That suit was so worth the money! I told you that was the right color for the tie! The entire internet is drooling over your picture tonight!

Shen Yan’s message was far more reserved, but her joy was still palpable between the lines: Congratulations. Well-deserved. We’ll celebrate when you get back.

Though it was only a few words, Chen Lin could practically see her sitting in front of her computer, the corners of her lips upturned in a slight smile—a hint of warmth beneath her cool exterior.

Huang Yiyi, ever diligent, sent a large red envelope: Congratulations to President Chen on bagging a national award! Sharing in the good fortune with the whole company!

The two "tech geeks" who had recently joined the group, however, had completely different reactions.

Bai Qian, the former Postdoctoral Researcher from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, clearly understood the significance of this award far better than this group of "laypeople." He sent three consecutive voice messages, the words tumbling out of him so quickly in each one that they sounded like tongue twisters:

Bai Qian: President Chen! Oh my god! The First Prize for Progress Award! Do you have any idea what this means? Back at my institute, if some big shot managed to win a Second Prize, they’d walk around with an incredible swagger! First Prize is legendary!

Bai Qian: And you’re only twenty-one! Twenty-one! At this rate, as long as you keep up your research output, I think becoming an academician before you turn thirty is absolutely possible! The youngest academician in history! I can’t even fathom it!

Chen Lin couldn’t help but smile as he listened to Bai Qian’s excited voice. ’An academician by thirty? That’s a bit of an over-the-top prediction,’ he thought, ’but it certainly sounds appealing.’

Pan Si’s focus was more pragmatic: President Chen, congratulations. This award is more than just an honor; it’s the strongest possible official endorsement. I was thinking, now that we have this level of recognition, maybe we could try applying for access to the Huaxia Data Group’s resources when we train our 30B or even larger-parameter models?

Pan Si: What we lack most right now isn’t computing power, but high-quality Chinese corpus data. The core government, financial, and medical data is only held by state-affiliated entities. If we can get past that hurdle, the moat protecting our model will be impenetrable.

Reading Pan Si’s message, Chen Lin stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Huaxia Data Group..."

’That’s right. The day before yesterday, in that quaint, antique-style building, the old man himself told me my clearance level had been raised.’

’He didn’t specify what kind of clearance, but since they’re calling me an "asset of critical national importance," asking for some data to train an AI shouldn’t be asking too much, right?’

Chen Lin: That’s a good idea. I’m actually meeting with people from the Technology Division in the next couple of days. I’ll feel them out then.

After sending his reply, Chen Lin tossed his phone onto the pillow and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

Tomorrow, he had another tough battle to fight.

...

「December 26th, Friday.」

The Imperial Capital’s winter was bone-dry and cold.

Chen Lin didn’t return to Jinmen, instead remaining at the Imperial City Restaurant. After all, he had made a bold promise to the old man yesterday that he would connect with the Technology Division today about the controllable nuclear fusion project.

Early in the morning, as he adjusted his clothes in front of the mirror, his heart was pounding a little.

’If today’s problem is too thorny and I can’t solve it on the spot, my whole "solve it in a day" boast is going to blow up in my face...’

Chen Lin looked at his reflection and gave a bitter smile. ’Then I’d have to crawl back to Jinmen with my tail between my legs just to get a change of clothes. How humiliating would that be?’

’No. I have to pull this off perfectly today!’

Chen Lin silently gave himself a pep talk before stepping out of his room.

In the hotel lobby’s lounge area, a middle-aged man in a dark jacket was sitting on a sofa, looking at his phone. His hair was a bit thin on top, but he had a vigorous and energetic air about him.

Seeing Chen Lin come down, the middle-aged man immediately put his phone away and stood up with a smile.

"Professor Chen, hello. I’m Liao Yixin from the Technology Division."

Without a hint of official airs, Liao Yixin proactively extended his hand.

"Minister Liao, it’s an honor to meet you." Chen Lin quickly shook his hand.

This was Vice Minister Liao, who was in charge of high-tech development and industrialization.

"You’re too kind, Professor Chen. Just call me Old Liao, I was a tech guy myself back in the day." Liao Yixin laughed heartily, his gaze lingering for a moment on Chen Lin’s youthful face, his eyes filled with admiration. "Come on, the car’s waiting outside. We can talk on the way."